Commander: Western Sanctions Beneficial to Iran in Long Run

The western sanctions and pressure on Iran’s economy will be in the interest of the Iranian nation in the long run since it will encourage national production, Iran’s police chief said on Sunday.

“The US knows that if its sanctions (on Iran) yield result in the short run, those pressures will spark unrests in the country and they will gain victory, but prolongation of the status quo will be in the interest of Iran because non-oil exports will increase and will result in the growth of national production,” Ahmadi Moqaddam said, addressing a group of Iranian border commanders here in Tehran on Sunday,

He added that Iran has been able to turn economic threats into opportunities.

The Iranian police chief further noted that Iran’s economic growth against the western countries’ expectations has forced the West to soften its tone and stance on Iran.

Yesterday, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi underlined the peaceful nature of Tehran’s nuclear program, and said the western countries will achieve nothing by imposing sanctions against Iran.

The foreigners also understand that they will get nowhere by imposing more pressure, Salehi said on Friday.

He further noted that although the West has created obstacles in the way of the Iranian nation, our nation is both aware and vigilant.

The Iranian top diplomat also ensured both the Iranian nation and the world that the nuclear issue will be solved in a foreseeable future.

Washington and its Western allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry.

Despite the rules enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entitling every member state, including Iran, to the right of uranium enrichment, Tehran is now under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions and the western embargos for turning down West’s calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment.

Tehran has dismissed West’s demands as politically tainted and illogical, stressing that sanctions and pressures merely consolidate Iranians’ national resolve to continue the path.

Tehran has repeatedly said that it considers its nuclear case closed as it has come clean of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’s questions and suspicions about its past nuclear activities.